EDITORIAL – God punishes Robertson for remarks

With another inappropriate and offensive remark spouted by Christian broadcaster Pat… With another inappropriate and offensive remark spouted by Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson, the question becomes not how high this comment hit on the scale of embarrassment, but which group should be the most offended.

Far up on that list are the people toward whom his comments are directed. In the case of his recent diatribe against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the people of Israel are justifiably upset and have taken action. His observation that Sharon’s recent stroke was punishment from God for removing Israel from the Gaza Strip garnered him more than a few derisive blog comments like the many he’s incurred from former offenses.

The people of Israel ordered his immediate removal from a project constructing the Christian Heritage Center, adjacent to the Sea of Galilee, where many believe Jesus walked on water. Shortly after those involved in the Christian Heritage Center proceeded to move without him, Robertson wrote Sharon’s family a letter of apology.

However, contributors to the project have not wavered and refuse to have any formal business dealings with a man who, in his proselytizing over foreign policy, tactlessly trivialized the state of Ariel Sharon’s health.

Robertson’s archaic positions, which often trivialize secular concerns, have angered other groups. Not many in the Hispanic community were happy when he wished for the assassination of the president of Venezuela. Robertson even went so far as to go against his own country in his explanation for the events of Sept. 11, 2001. Americans were irate when Robertson theorized that God was punishing America because of the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Roe v. Wade and remove biblical text from schools.

The problem with these controversial comments is that while many who hear these blithe statements immediately come to the conclusion that he’s an idiot, others, even some who are very influential in the policymaking of this country, sympathize with his views and attitudes.

Looking at this from a more political perspective, those of Robertson’s school of thought have successfully worked to split the Republican Party. On one side there are the “Christian Fundies,” using their religious ideals as a platform, and on the other are those who are actually conservative in the literal sense of the word. And while there are serious evangelical Christians – identifying themselves as Republicans – in high positions of authority, not everyone on the right perceives Robertson’s commentaries as being acceptable.

President Bush himself publicly admonished Robertson, and other Christian leaders have condemned his acts. While it’s encouraging to see that there is some limit to the right’s tolerance of Christian fundamentalist grandstanding, America as a whole still bears the brunt of such insensitivity because Robertson is standing on a global platform. Those abroad can interpret these thoughtless statements as the sentiments of Christians, Republicans and, perhaps most importantly, Americans.

While it is a good, and ironic, thing that his recent views regarding Sharon’s land have excluded him from a project on the holy land, Robertson has undoubtedly become a global embarrassment, and thus an embarrassment to us all.